Asian countries lead in usage of smartphone apps

KOLKATA: Messaging apps are the most used than any other smartphone apps across most Asian countries, with Indonesia, India and Singapore taking the lead, according to a latest study by market tracker and researcher GfK. The study noted that over 80% of users in each of these countries use it at least once a week.

This is in stark contrast to Japan, where less than two in five (39%) use messaging apps on a weekly basis. "At the rate at which messaging apps are reportedly being used in this region, it is not surprising that a high proportion of connected consumers actually text more than they talk on their smartphone," said Karthik Venkatakrishnan, APAC director for digital marketing intelligence at GfK.

The study said over four in five online consumers in the Asia-Pacific region access the internet daily on their smartphones. With the escalating penetration of smartphones and improving internet infrastructure across the region, the mobile device has become consumers' primary gateway to the internet.

The study said accessing the internet via the smartphone has become a daily activity for 83% of the online users across eight key Asia Pacific markets, led by the Chinese and followed by the Thais, Indonesians, Singaporeans and Vietnamese.

Nearly two-thirds of connected consumers in India (64%) and over half (54%) of those in Indonesia said they have some level of engagement with at least one brand on social media in the past week making them the group of consumers in the region who are most open to being engaged by businesses online. These are also the top two markets where consumers said they have watched online videos and advertisements by brands.

With the proliferation of e-commerce, shopping apps are also gaining popularity across the markets. Such apps are used most often in India (54%) and China (48%) with around half of the online population using a shopping app more than once a week.

Consumers in Singapore and Indonesia also reported fairly high usage incidence (37 and 35 %). Only the developed markets of Australia and Japan are still very much conducting their online shopping activities on their personal computers.

Mobile payment is another area which is likely to encourage growth of online shopping. For instance, a significant percentage of connected consumers in India (72%) and Indonesia (60%) agree that using the phone to send/receive money is easier than sending cash, and that paying for their shopping online is more secure now than before.